Faculty of Natural Sciences

BIOGRAPHY

Professor Mike Davies-Coleman joined the University of Western Cape as the Dean of Natural
Sciences from Rhodes University in June 2012. Professor Davies-Coleman is an organic chemist and
an NRF B-rated researcher with a Google h-index of 37. He has supervised and co-supervised 26 MSc
and PhD graduates in the fields of marine and plant natural products chemistry and other aspects of
organic chemistry. Professor Davies-Coleman is regarded as a leading authority on African marine
natural products with several on-going international collaborations. He has published over 100
research publications in plant and marine invertebrate natural products chemistry and other related
organic chemistry fields. Professor Davies-Coleman is a member of the Academy of Science of South
Africa, and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of South Africa and the South African Chemical
Institute. While at Rhodes University he was the recipient of both the Vice Chancellor Distinguished
Research and Teaching Awards. During his academic career he has been awarded US National
Institutes of Health and Fulbright Senior Research Fellowships to carry out research at the National
Cancer Institute in the USA (1999 and 2005 respectively) and, more recently, a Benjamin Meaker
Visiting Fellowship to the University of Bristol in the UK (2018).
 

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS 2015-2020

Emissions and marine boundary layer concentrations of unregulated chlorocarbons
measured at Cape Point, South Africa.
Say D., Kuyper, B., Western, L., Khan, M.A.H, Lesch, T., Labuschagne, C., Martin, D.,
Young, D, Manning, A. J., O’Doherty, S., Rigby, M. Krummel, P.B., Davies-Coleman, M.T.,
Ganesan, A. L., Shallcross, D. E. Environmental Science and Technology, 2020, 54, 17,
10514–10523 Doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02057

Atmospheric toluene and benzene mole fractions at Cape Town and Cape Point and an
estimation of the hydroxyl radical concentrations in the air above the Cape Peninsula, South
Africa.
Kuyper, B., Wingrove, H., Lesch, T., Labuschagne, C., Say, D., Martin, D., Young, D.,
Khan, M A. H., O'Doherty, S., Davies-Coleman, M. T., Shallcross, D. E., Earth and Space
Chemistry, 2019, 4, 24–34. Doi: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00207

Atmospheric HCFC-22, HFC-125, and HFC-152a at Cape Point, South Africa
Kuyper, B., Say, D., Labuschagne, C., Lesch, T., Joubert, W. R., Martin, D., Young, D.,
Khan, M. A. H., Rigby, M., Ganesan, A. L., Lunt, M. L., O’Dowd, C., Manning, A. J.,
O’Doherty, S., Davies-Coleman, M. T., Shallcross, D. E., Environmental Science and
Technology, 2019, 63, 8967-8975. Doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b01612

Volatile halocarbon measurements in the marine boundary layer at Cape Point, South Africa.
Kuyper, B., Lesch, T., Labuschagne, C., Martin, D., Young, D., Khan, M A. H., . Williams,
A. G., O'Doherty, S., Davies-Coleman, M. T., Shallcross, D. E., Atmospheric Environment,
2019, (214), 116833. Doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.116833

Colourful chemistry of South African latrunculid sponges.
Davies-Coleman, M.T., Antunes, E.M., Beukes, D.R., Samaai, T. South African Journal of
Science, 2019, 115(5/6), Art. #5534, 7 pages. Doi: 10.17159/sajs.2019/5534.

Exploratory applications of 2-nitrobenzaldehyde-derived Morita–Baylis–Hillman adducts as
synthons in the construction of drug-like scaffolds, 
Idahosa, K.C., Davies-Coleman, M.T., Kaye, P. T., Synthetic Communications, 2019, 49, 3,
417-430. doi: 10.1080/00397911.2018.1559333.

Hyphenated LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS identification of iodinated metabolites in South African
marine ascidian extracts
Bromley, C.L.; Raab, A.; Parker-Nance, S.; Beukes, D.R.; Jaspars, M and Davies-Coleman,
M. T. South African Journal of Chemistry, 2018, 71, 111-117. Doi: 10.17159/0379-
4350/2018/v71a14.

Four decades of trace gas analysis at Cape Point, South Africa.
Labuschagne, C.; Kuyper, B.; Brunke, E-G.; Mokolo,T.; van der Spuy, D.; Martin, L.;
Mbambalala, E.; Parker, B.; Khan, M.A.H.; Davies-Coleman, M.T.; Dudley E. Shallcross, D.
E. and Joubert, W. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 2018, 73, 113-132.
Doi:10.17159/2410-972x/2018/v28n2a10

Unequivocal determination of caulamidines A and B: application and validation of new tools
in the structure elucidation tool box. Milanowski, D. J., Oku, N., Cartner, L. K., Bokesch, H.
R., Williamson, R. T., Saurí, J., Liu, Y., Blinov, K.A. Ding, Y., Li, X-C., Ferreira, D., Walker,
L.A., Khan, S., Kaye, P.T. , Davies-Coleman, M.T., Kelly, J.A., McMahon, J.B. Martin, G. A.,
and Gustafson, K.R. Chemical Science, 2018, 9, 307 - 314, DOI: 10.1039/c7sc01996c 2

Antibacterial activities of bacteria isolated from the marine sponges Isodictya compressa and
Higginsia bidentifera collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa. Matobole R. H, van Zyl, L.J.,
Parker-Nance, S. Davies-Coleman, M.T., Trindade, M., Marine Drugs, 2017 15, 47;
doi:10.3390/md15020047

Keeping it in the family: Evidence for co-evolution of latrunculid sponges and their dominant
bacterial symbionts. Matcher, G.F., Waterworth, S.C., Walsmley, T. A., Matsatsa, T., Parker-
Nance, S., Davies-Coleman, M.T. and Dorrington, R.A. Microbiology Open, 2017, 6, 1-13.
Doi:10.1002/mbo3.

A modelling study of the atmospheric chemistry of DMS using the global model, STOCHEM-
CRI. Khan M.A.H., Gillespie S.M.P., Razis B., Xiao P., Davies-Coleman M.T., Percival, C.J.,
Derwent, R.G., Dyke, J.M., Ghosh, M.V., Lee, E.P.F. and Shallcross, D.E. Atmospheric
Environment, 2016, 127, 69-79.

Recent advances in drug discovery from South African marine invertebrates.Davies-
Coleman, M.T. and Veale, C.G.L Marine Drugs, 2015, 13, 6366-6383.
Antiplasmodial activity: The first proof of inhibition of heme crystallization by marine
isonitriles. Young, R.M., Adendorff, M.R., Wright, A.D. and Davies-Coleman, M.T. European
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2015, 93, 373-380.

Synthetic Analogues of Marine Bisindole Deoxytopsentin: Potent Selective Inhibitors of
MRSA Pyruvate Kinase. Veale, C.G.L., Zoraghi, R., Young, R. M., Morrison, J. P.,
Partheeban, M., Lobb, K. A., Reiner, N. E., Andersen, R. J. and Davies-Coleman, M.T.
Journal of Natural Products 2015, 78, 355-362.
 

RECENT POPULAR ARTICLES

Sea Squirt City. Port Elizabeth’s Tunicate Treasure Trove. Davies-Coleman M., Parker-
Nance S. and Watt, J., Quest 2017, 13(2), 10-13